New robots, new capabilities. Tracking what's coming for the workforce.
Robotics LG and NVIDIA signed an MOU at NVIDIA's Santa Clara headquarters on August 13. The humanoid got the headline. The wheeled CLOiD got the deployment date, and it lands in a plant already running 200 mobile robots.
Robotics The New York Times walked BMW's Spartanburg plant and Hyundai's Georgia plant on August 11. The robots that actually work in those factories have wheels. The humanoids are doing kitting.
Robotics Smart Analytics Global put out first-half humanoid shipment data on August 10: 19,100 units globally, up 272%, with AgiBot passing Unitree at 8,400 units. The share number traveled. The mix number is the one that changes work.
Robotics RoboStore, which has deployed 1,500+ humanoid and quadruped robots to 4,500 US customers, launched Robo Inc. on August 10 to assemble and integrate robots on American soil. The ban blocks new imports. It does not block the same machines arriving by another route.
Robotics Unitree sets its STAR Market offer price today, nine days after the FCC barred new Chinese humanoids and robot dogs from the US market.
Robotics BYD confirmed its first humanoid robot debuts in August at a Zhengzhou experience centre — 1.61m, 58.5kg, 31 degrees of freedom, and a spec sheet aimed entirely at talking to customers.
Robotics DeepMind's Gemini Robotics 2, announced July 30, controls a humanoid from feet to fingertips — and its own benchmark chart shows grippers still beating five-fingered hands.
Robotics Unitree filed its STAR Market prospectus on July 30, disclosing H1 revenue growth of 36-45% and an adjusted net profit that fell year-on-year.
Robotics A consumer VR treadmill company sold its Omni One rig to Tesla's Optimus division so engineers can pilot the robot by walking in place — a tell about how autonomous it isn't.
Robotics Agility is opening a Fremont hub and hiring ~200 people to train Digit — the same humanoid it places in warehouses — while going public at a $2.5B valuation.
Robotics The 25th IEEE humanoid-robotics conference chose 'Humanoids and the Future of Work' as its theme — the field's own admission the machines are now on the clock.
Robotics Samsung folded its scattered robotics teams into one $13B division on July 21. The first factories it plans to automate are its own.